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Last year’s NHL playoff pool was a good time, so I figured I’d set one up again this year.

It’s through ESPN.com. You can link to it here. The group you want to join is called “JB Blog.” It’s public, so there’s no need for a password. I don’t have a budget, but I’ll scrounge up a prize pack to mail to the winner. I’ve got some good hockey books and some CV T-shirts and maybe a nicknack or doodad of some kind.

Now get to work. The playoffs start Tuesday night, so there’s not a lot of time to pick a team. It’s one of those deals where you pick a 12-man lineup within a certain salary cap. You can change your lineup after each round, not every day, so it’s not a particularly high maintenance contest. No reason not to play.

Coach John Hynes made one lineup change after the WBS Penguins won Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinals series with Binghamton in overtime last night. He scratched out 18 and wrote 21 in its place. Blackjack.

Chris Collins returned to the lineup and scored a critical, tie-breaking goal in the second period. The Penguins never trailed again, winning 3-2 and taking the first two games of the best-of-five series. They will have a chance to complete the sweep Thursday at home.

Here’s Hynes on why he had Collins in the lineup instead of Dominik Uher tonight: “He’s a veteran guy. We know what he can do. Why not use our depth? We have it up front. He was a fresh guy coming in that we have confidence in. He has something to prove too. He was out of the lineup. You’re putting in a hungry guy that has playoff experience.”

The play started when Collins got up after being dumped by Hugh Jessiman, saw Brian Dumoulin with the puck and called for a long, diagonal pass through the neutral zone. Dumoulin delivered and Collins crossed the blue line at the right point. Collins acted as if he were waiting to pass to trailer Paul Thompson, but instead took a no-look shot that got past goalie Nathan Lawson.

That made it 2-1. Warren Peters — who played a phenomenal game, blocking shots on the penalty kill, diving to clear pucks out of the zone, etc. — made it 3-1 with 1.9 seconds left in the second period.

Zach Sill redirected a Dylan Reese pass on net, setting off a scramble for the rebound. Peters lunged and got a stick on the puck, sending it dribbling across the goal line. A goal that late in a period in a 2-1 game is usually a big deal.

Referees Jamie Koharski and Jon McIsaac, who gave out 18 power plays the night before in Syracuse, put their mark on the game in the first nine minutes of the third period, handing out seven minors and a misconduct.

The Penguins didn’t score on a lengthy five-on-three in the middle of the period, and when that ended with about nine minutes left in the game, the B-Sens turned up the heat. They spent long stretches in the Penguins’ zone and got 10 shots on goal, but Jeff Zatkoff stopped nine of them. The only goal came on a power play with 18.6 seconds left and by then, it was basically too late.

A neat stat on Zatkoff: In the regular season, he led the league with a 1.93 GAA. He has a 1.87 GAA through two playoff games.

According to the league office, nine teams have come back from 2-0 down to win a best-of-five series in AHL history, so there’s plenty of precedent to suggest nothing has been decided yet. But the Penguins are healthy, playing well and heading home.

Not sure when the next blog update will be as I have a funky schedule this week. Definitely by Wednesday afternoon, so check back by then.

When the Penguins lost six of their first seven meetings with Binghamton in the regular season, there was something missing from their game.

Evidently, it was Chad Kolarik.

Kolarik scored his second goal of the game 8:18 into overtime to give the Penguins a 3-2 win in Binghamton tonight in Game 1. Game 2 is tomorrow at 5:05.

Kolarik came into the offensive zone three on three, pulled up and buried a shot past goalie Nathan Lawson and inside the post. A goal scorer’s goal, as they say.

Kolarik has five goals and five assists in five games against Binghamton since joining the Penguins in a January trade. He has four overtime goals in his last 36 games. At some point, these stats stop being a coincidence and start becoming a trend. Kolarik is good against Binghamton and good in overtime.

The Penguins got off to a quick start, taking the first 10 shots of the game and going up 2-0 on goals by Brian Gibbons on a redirect of a Brian Dumoulin slap pass from the point and Kolarik from the slot after Riley Holzapfel made a centering pass and two defenders collapsed on Trevor Smith.

Binghamton punched back after that, outshooting the Penguins 36-23 the rest of the way. Shane Prince came out of the left-wing corner and roofed a backhand on the power play in the first period and Mark Stone picked up a puck Philip Samuelsson turned over in the defensive zone and scored to make it 2-2 in the second.

That could have been a game-changer, but the Penguins settled down from there. Coach John Hynes said he liked the way his team bent but didn’t break.

Even though five goals were scored, both goalies played very well. The third period and first few minutes of overtime were a goaltenders’ duel.

Here’s the final installment of a four-part blog extra series previewing the playoff series between the WBS Penguins and Binghamton. Line combinations and D pairs at the bottom are my best guesses. Keep an eye out for my prediction for the series, which will be in the paper and online Saturday.

PENGUINS

BINGHAMTON

EDGE

HARD TO FIGURE OUT. THEY AVERAGED JUST 2.43 GPG, BUT THE TOP LINE IS LETHAL AND THEY HAVE FIVE 20-GOAL MEN IN THE LINEUP

OFFENSE

IF THE PENGUINS LET THEM GET OUT IN THE TRANSITION GAME AND USE THEIR SPEED, THE B-SENS CAN SCORE IN BUNCHES

BINGHAMTON

THEY DIDN’T LEAD THE LEAGUE IN GOALS AGAINST IN THE REGULAR SEASON BY ACCIDENT. GOOD SIZE AND COMMITMENT IN THE D ZONE

DEFENSE

A REAL NICE MIX OF YOUNG AND OLD, OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE

PENGUINS

ZATKOFF HASN’T BEEN GREAT AGAINST BINGHAMTON, BUT HE WAS OUTSTANDING DOWN THE STRETCH

GOALIES

IF LAWSON ISN’T 100 PERCENT, THIS BECOMES A SIGNIFICANT EDGE FOR THE PENGUINS

PENGUINS

RANKED 22ND IN THE LEAGUE IN THE REGULAR SEASON AND GETTING BETTER

POWER PLAY

RANKED 27TH IN THE LEAGUE IN THE REGULAR SEASON AND GETTING WORSE

PENGUINS

RANKED FIRST IN THE LEAGUE IN THE REGULAR SEASON. PERHAPS THE STRENGTH OF THE TEAM

PENALTY KILL

RANKED SIXTH IN THE LEAGUE AND ALSO SCORED AHL-BEST 19 SHORTHANDED GOALS

On the day before the playoffs start, I checked in with coach John Hynes after practice today at the Ice Rink at Coal Street about some nuts-and-bolts lineup decisions he’s had to make this week.

To the surprise of no one, Jeff Zatkoff will start in goal. Zatkoff allowed two goals or fewer in nine of his last 10 appearances in the regular season and led the league with a 1.93 goals-against average. One thing he has not had in his career, however, is playoff success.

“I don’t think it’s any different for any player in here. You want to have playoff success linked to your name,” Zatkoff said. “The biggest thing is staying on an even keel and having confidence in your game and not trying to do too much because that’s when you start to create holes and problems. Just try to take care of what you do best.’

In other words, don’t try to hit a three-run home run with no one on base.

Nathan Lawson, who has been out since the final weekend of the regular season with a lower-body injury, reportedly practiced for Binghamton today. Unless something unforeseen happens, you’d expect him to get the start tomorrow.

Here are Hynes’ thoughts on some other spots in the lineup:

– Dominik Uher and Chris Collins have both practiced at second line left wing in recent days. Hynes said there are a lot of similiarities between their games. “They bring energy, speed, grit,” he said. “They have skill and the ability to score goals and I think they complement the guys they play with.” Not tipping his hand there.

– I think Beau Bennett has already established himself as an NHL player, but if Penguins management thinks he could use some Calder Cup playoff experience, that would be the perfect spot for him to slide into.

– LW Derek Nesbitt and RW Paul Thompson aren’t practicing on the same line, but Hynes said that’s not due to a desire to spread scoring evenly throughout the lineup. “It’s more the types of lines you want to have to start out the game,” he said. “Then you see where it goes from there.”

– In other words, the lines in the first period of Game 1 are just a starting point. “Sometimes, even if it’s after a penalty or a power play, all of a sudden you put a group together and it clicks,” Hynes said. “You might go with that group. We do have a lot of adjustable guys that can move throughout the lineup.”

– Along those same lines, Hynes said there aren’t yet any specific match-ups he is 100 percent sure he’s going to want. “It’ll be situational,” he said. “One of the things that I think it’s real important to do is you want to get your guys going in the game. It’s tough particularly in the first period of the first game. Your team’s excited. They’re ready to go. As a coach, you have to respect the players. We want to get everybody involved and everybody going, then we’ll make adaptations as need be.”

– Hynes said there’s a good chance 6-foot-4 rookie Reid McNeill will play in the series on defense. McNeill looked good in two late-season games with the Penguins. “He’s played very well,” Hynes said. “He defends hard. He’s a tough player to play against. He executes the style of play and the system well. For a young guy, he’s got some defensive moxie to him.”

– Add McNeill to Joey Mormina, Brian Dumoulin, Alex Grant and Philip Samuelsson and the Penguins look to have excellent size on defense. I know that’s something St. John’s worried about in the playoffs last year. Hynes said getting bigger on the blue line isn’t necessarily a goal of his. “We like those guys because they’re tough guys to play against,” he said. “If they were big and they weren’t tough to play against, I’d rather have a 5-8 guy.”

So there you have it. The stage is set. The final installment of the four-part blog extra playoff preview will post late tonight with a position by position breakdown of the series. In tomorrow’s paper, some thoughts from Joey Mormina, a look at five key players in the series and my prediction.

For coverage of Thursday night’s Penguins practice, just scroll down a bit. In the meantime, here’s the third in a four-part blog extra playoff preview.

Vegas sports books don’t take action on the AHL, so as a public service, I’ve posted some odds for all 16 playoff teams to claim the Calder Cup.

Three caveats: 1. This is only an exhibition. Please, no wagering. 2. I don’t really know how to properly make odds. It’s an amateur, back-of-the-envelope kind of exercise, to be honest. 3. We don’t see much of the Western Conference here in Wilkes-Barre, so those odds are based more on numbers than anything else. Plus, the eight playoff teams in the West were separated by eight points in the standings. Frankly, you could throw them all in a bingo hopper and pick one as the favorite.

1. Providence 4-1: The P-Bruins have gone about it quietly, but they’re 31-7-3 since the end of the lockout. They’ve got a standout goalie in Niklas Svedberg and Chris Bourque is back.

2. Syracuse 5-1: Sure they’ve lost four of their top five playoff scorers from last season as well as coach Jon Cooper, but sleep on the Crunch at your own risk. They didn’t lead the league in offense by accident.

3. Springfield 6-1: Captain Ryan Craig has had a remarkable season, keeping the Falcons humming despite roster losses at the end of the lockout. If Columbus is eliminated, look out.

4. Grand Rapids 8-1: A real balanced scoring attack, the possibility of some high-end help coming from Detroit and a pair of solid goaltenders.

5. Toronto 10-1: An experienced bunch that went to the Calder Cup finals last year. The return of 30-goal scorer Ryan Hamilton from the Leafs would be big.

6. Charlotte 10-1: A group with plenty of playoff experience and scoring depth. Goaltending is a question mark.

7. Texas 12-1: They had the Western Conference’s best record, so I’m probably not giving them enough credit, but they don’t have many stars (no pun intended) and the goaltending is iffy.

8. Penguins 12-1: They’ve got an intriguing mix of team defense, good goaltending and a handful of dangerous scorers, but the Eastern Conference is such a minefield.

9. Binghamton 14-1: Coach Luke Richardson did an amazing job after an exodus of talent at the end of the lockout. If they still had Robin Lehner, they’d probably be six or seven spots higher on this list.

10. Milwaukee 18-1: A solid darkhorse. They’ve got a couple of good goalies, won their last four to get in and are getting top prospect Filip Forsberg down from Nashville.

11. Rochester 18-1: Another decent darkhorse. They’ve got a workhorse goalie in David Leggio, a top scorer in Mark Mancari and played well down the stretch to get in.

12. Houston 20-1: They’ve had so many goaltending injuries this season that it’s hard to get a read on the Aeros. If that gets straightened out, they’re as potent as anybody else in the West.

13. Manchester 20-1: Maybe the East’s best darkhorse. They’ve got a good top line, a solid goalie in Martin Jones and played well late in the season.

14. Hershey 25-1: Hard to figure the Bears because late-season trades reshaped their roster. Their biggest problem is drawing Bourque and Providence in the first round.

15. Oklahoma City 30-1: They’re a solid playoff team, but without the Oilers lockout crew, they’re not scaring anyone.

16. Portland 40-1: Not a bad team or anything, but they did most of their winning this year before the NHL lockout ended.

In an effort to shake things up a bit during a six-day week of practice before his team opens the playoffs Saturday at Binghamton, WBS Penguins coach John Hynes scheduled a night practice Thursday.

The team took the ice at about 7 p.m. in front of about 100 fans and went through a pretty standard 50-minute workout, focusing first on the defensive zone and later on special teams. The Penguins were going to scrimmage for a few minutes at the end of the practice, but they ran out of time.

Hynes explains why he scheduled the evening practice.

“It gives guys a little extra rest because it’s almost a day and a half before they have to practice,” he said. “It’s something that’s different. It gave us a chance this morning to meet on a couple of things instead of cramming everything together. The other part is to get activated and get going at 7 o’clock at night. Usually, in the regular season, you’re going to face some type of a midweek game. The weeks where you don’t, a lot of times guys are trying to get going. So it was for planning, it was for rest, it was for a different mindset.”

The Penguins faced a layoff of five days or longer five times this season. They went 2-2-1 in the games following those layoffs.

According to AHL lore, about 10 years ago, the Springfield Falcons went a whole season practicing in the evening rather than in the morning. On the surface, it makes sense. If you’re going to play at night, why not practice at night?

It didn’t work, largely because many players, not having to be up and at ‘em for practice early in the morning made some, shall we say, detrimental lifestyle choices after the evening practices.

Hynes said he wasn’t worried about that happening with the Penguins at this time of year.

“Guys are all dialed in,” Hynes said. “In the regular season, I think it’s best to have it in the morning. But at this point, the level of commitment of everyone is so high, I think it was safe to do it.”

Captain Joey Mormina said he is glad Hynes isn’t planning to make evening practices a regular thing.

“I would hate it,” Mormina said. “I was at the park with the kids. In the yard with the kids. Three o’clock rolled around and I had zero energy left. For me, that would be the retirement party right there.”

The second of a four-part blog-only series examining the playoff series between the WBS Penguins and Binghamton Senators focuses on the 10-game season series between the teams.

I did a one-paragraph recap on each of the 10 meetings, and you can find that after the jump. Right now, though, some observations:

– You could say the Penguins won four of the 10 meetings and Binghamton won six, but that’s a little misleading. Two of the four WBS wins were in a shootout. So really, Binghamton won the series 6-2-2, which sounds a lot more decisive than saying the Penguins lost the series 4-6.

– Binghamton won six of the first seven meetings, with its only loss coming in a 1-0 shootout. The Penguins then won the last three meetings. The tide didn’t turn when the lockout ended exactly. It turned when goalie Robin Lehner was called up to Ottawa and the Penguins acquired Chad Kolarik in a trade with the Rangers. Lehner went 5-1-1 with a 1.72 GAA and .951 save percentage against the Penguins this season. Kolarik had three goals and eight points in four games against Binghamton.

– If the goaltending matchup ends up being Jeff Zatkoff against Nathan Lawson, both were good but not great in the season series. Zatkoff went 3-5 with a 2.30 GAA and .911 save percentage against the B-Sens. Lawson went 0-1-1 with a 2.79 GAA and .913 save percentage against the Penguins.

– If Lawson is hurt, Marc Cheverie did not play against the Penguins this season. He was, however, Penguins property for a few days last summer. Cheverie was included in the deal between Pittsburgh and Phoenix that featured Zbynek Michalek largely because the Coyotes needed to trim a player from their 50-contract limit. Cheverie was a restricted free agent and the Penguins did not make him a qualifying offer, granting him unrestricted status.

– I may have buried the lead here, but hey, that happens. The biggest stat to look at in this series is the power play. On the Binghamton side, with Patrick Wiercioch, Andre Benoit and Jakob Silfverberg in the lineup, the B-Sens went 5-for-31 on the power play against the Penguins (16.1 percent). After they went up to Ottawa, the B-Sens went 1-for-25 (4 percent). Before the Penguins acquired Kolarik, they went 0-for-35 on the power play against Binghamton. With Kolarik, they went 6-for-30 (20 percent).

Make sure to check the blog tomorrow evening for an update from the Penguins 7 p.m. scrimmage at Coal Street and then again Friday morning for part three of the blog extra series. It gives odds for all 16 playoff teams to claim the Calder Cup.

– The Penguins did not have an on-ice practice today. The next practice update here on the blog will come tomorrow night. That’s because coach John Hynes is breaking up a six-day practice week with some creative scheduling. The Penguins will treat tomorrow like a game day, having a morning skate in the morning and playing a 45-minute intrasquad scrimmage at 7 p.m. at the Ice Rink at Coal Street. The scrimmage is free and open to the public.

– Pittsburgh signed sixth-round pick Anton Zlobin to an entry level contract today. He’s with the team on an amateur tryout, but I haven’t seen him skate yet. He’s an interesting prospect because the Penguins don’t have a lot of prospects in the pipeline like him. First of all, he’s Russian. Second of all, he’s a pure scorer, finishing in the top 10 in the QMJHL with 91 points in 61 games this year. It’s always difficult to project what kind of pro a high scorer from the Q will be.

– If the NHL playoffs started today, one quarter of the 16 participating teams would be coached by a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton alumnus — Dan Bylsma in Pittsburgh, Michel Therrien in Montreal, Mike Yeo in Minnesota and Todd Richards in Columbus.

Late tonight, the second part of the Blog Extra playoff preview series will be posted here. It looks at the 10-game season series between the Penguins and Binghamton.

Hershey might be the most bitter rival for the WBS Penguins, but from arena to arena, Binghamton is actually about 20 miles closer. As such, the teams play frequently and bad blood sometimes develops.

Here is the first of a four-part Blog Extra series previewing the series between the Penguins and B-Sens that starts Saturday. Here is a countdown of the top 10 fights in the history of the rivalry. The first one is here. The next nine are after the jump.

10. Robert Bortuzzo vs. Zack Smith

This one is here for timeliness more than excitement. These two just fought Monday night when Pittsburgh played Ottawa.

A winner of first-place honors in the blogging category of the 2012 Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors awards, Penguins Insider was created to give local hockey fans an interactive, in-depth way to follow the team they so passionately support. The blog's author, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie, has been covering the team since its inception in 1999. Contact him at jbombulie@aol.com

Visit the WBS Penguins page at citizensvoice.com for Penguins stories, photos and more.